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THE  BENSON  LIBRARY  OF  HYMNOLOGY 

Endowed  by  the  Reverend 

Louis  Fitzgerald  Benson,  d.d. 


LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 
PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY 


library  of  Che  Cheoio^icai  ^eminarp 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

REVEREND  CHARLES  ROSENBURY  ERDMAN 

D.D.,  LL.D. 


69/S 


](r"c/^cn^ 


/(j)/yiA^jo  JOni~c^o        t  ft)  0  , 


DIES    IRiE 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://archive.org/details/versionOOcole 


• 


DIES    IRJE 


THIRTEEN    ORIGINAL    VERSIONS 


BY 


ABRAHAM    COLES,    M.  D. 


SECOND    EDITION. 


♦♦^*~. 


NEW    YORK: 

D.    APPI.RTON    AND    COMPANY. 

l86l. 


Entered  according  to   Act  of  Congress  in  the  year   1859,  by 

Abraham  Coles, 

in  the  Clerk's  office  of  the   District  Court  of  the   District  of 

New  Jersey. 


RIVERSIDE,    CAMBRIDGE  : 

STEREOTYPED     AND     PRINTED     BY 

H.    O.    HOUGHTON    AND    COMPANY. 


INTRODUCTION. 


T  would  be  difficult  to  find,  in  the 
whole  range  of  literature,  a  production 
to  which  a  profbunder  intereft  attaches 
than  to  that  magnificent  canticle  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  the  DIES  IRJE,  Fattening  on  that 
which  is  indeftructible  in  man,  and  giving  fitter  ex- 
preffion  than  can  elsewhere  be  found,  to  experiences 
and  emotions  which  can  never  cease  to  agitate  him, 
it  has  loft  after  the  lapse  of  fix  centuries  none  of  its 
original  frefhness  and  transcendent  power  to  affect, 
the  heart.  It  has  commanded  alike  the  admiration 
of  men  of  piety  and  men  of  tafte.  By  common  con- 
sent, it  is  as  Daniel  remarks  :  sacra  poeseos  summum 
decus  et  E celesta  Latince  Kei^Xiov  est  pretiofijjimum. 
Among    gems    it  is  the  diamond.      It  is  solitary  in 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

its  excellence.  Of  Latin  Hymns,  it  is  the  beft 
known  and  the  acknowledged  mafterpiece.  There 
are  others  which  poffess  much  sweetness  and  beauty, 
but  this  ftands  unrivalled.  It  has  superior  beauties, 
with  none  of  their  defe£ts.  For  the  moft  part  they 
are  more  or  less  Romifh,  but  this  is  Catholic,  and 
not  Romifh  at  all.  It  is  universal  as  humanity.  It 
is  the  cry  of  the  human.  It  bears  indubitable  marks 
of  being  a  personal  experience. 

The  author  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  monk  :  an 
incredible  suppofition  truly  did  we  not  know  that  a 
monk  is  also  a  man.  One  thing  is  certain,  that  the 
monk  does  not  appear,  and  that  it  is  the  man  only 
that  speaks.  He  no  longer  dreams  and  drivels.  He 
is  efFe£lually  awake.  The  veil  is  lifted.  He  sees 
Chrift  coming  to  Judgment.  All  the  tumult  and  the 
terror  of  the  Laft  Day  are  present  to  him.  The  final 
pause  and  syncope  of  Nature  ;  the  fhuddering  of  a 
horror-ftruck  Universe  ;  the  down-rufhing  and  wreck 
of  all  things — all  are  present.  But  these  material 
circumftances  of  horror  and  amazement,  he  feels  are 
as  nothing  compared  with  "  the  infinite  terror  of 
being  found  guilty  before  the  Juft  Judge."      This 


INTRODUCTION.  VII 

fingle  confideration  swallows  up  every  other.  The 
interefts  of  an  eternity  are  crowded  into  a  moment. 

One  great  secret  of  the  power  and  enduring  popu- 
larity of  this  Hymn  is,  undoubtedly,  its  genuineness. 
A  vital  fincerity  breathes  throughout.  It  is  a  cry  de 
profundus ;  and  the  cry  becomes  sometimes — so  in- 
tense are  the  terror  and  solicitude — almoft  a  fhriek. 
It  is  in  the  higheft  degree  pathetic.  The  Muse 
is  "  Mater  Lachrymarum,  Our  Lady  of  Tears." 
Every  line  weeps.  Underneath  every  word  and  syl- 
lable, a  living  heart  throbs  and  pulsates.  The  very 
rhythm,  or  that  alternate  elevation  and  depreffion  of 
the  voice,  which  prosodifts  call  the  arfis  and  the 
thefts^  one  might  almoft  fancy  were  synchronous 
with  the  contraction  and  the  dilatation  of  the  heart. 
It  is  more  than  dramatic.  The  horror  and  the  dread 
are  real :  are  actual  not  acted.  A  human  heart  is 
laid  bare,  quivering  with  life,  and  we  see  and  hear  its 
tumultuous  throbbings.  We  sympathize — nay,  be- 
fore we  are  aware,  we  have  changed  places.  We, 
too,  tremble  and  quail  and  cry  aloud. 

All  true  Lyric  Poetry  is  subjective.  The  Dies 
iRiE  is,  as  we  have  seen,  remarkable  for  its  intense 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION'. 

subjectivity  ;  and  whoever  duly  appreciates  this  chhi 
acteriftic,  will  have  little  difficulty  in  understanding 
its  superior  effectiveness  over  everything  else  that 
has  been  written  on  the  same  theme.  The  life  of 
the  writer  has  paffed  into  it  and  informs  it,  so  that  it 
is  itself  alive.  It  has  vital  forces  and  emanations. 
Its  life  mingles  with  our  life.  It  enters  into  our 
veins  and  circulates  in  our  blood.  A  virtue  goes  out 
from  it.  It  is  electrically  charged,  and  contact  is 
inftantly  followed  by  a  fhock  and  fhuddering. 

Springing  from  its  subjectivity,  if  not  identical  with 
it,  we  wTould  further  notice,  the  intenfifying  effect  of 
what  may  be  called  its  personalism,  in  other  words 
its  ego-ism.  It  is  I  and  not  We.  Subftitute  the 
plural  pronoun  for  the  lingular,  and  it  would  lose 
half  its  pungency.  We  have  had  occafion  to  observe 
the  weakening  effect  of  this  in  tranflation.  The 
truth  is,  the  feeling  is  of  a  kind  too  concentrated  and 
too  exacting  to  allow  itself  to  be  diffipated  in  the 
vagueness  of  any  grouping  generality.  The  heart 
knoweth  its  own  bitterness.  There  is  a  grief  that 
cannot  be  fhared,  neither  can  it  be  joined  on  to 
another's.      It  is  not  social  nor  common.      It  is  mine 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

and  not  yours.  It  is  exclufive,  not  because  it  is  sel- 
fish, but  because  it  has  depths  beyond  the  soundings 
of  ordinary  sympathy. 

This  is  especially  true  of  some  of  the  intenser 
forms  of  religious  experience,  proceeding  as  they  do 
from  that  which  is  moft  intimate  and  innermoft,  the 
penetralia  of  a  man's  consciousness,  his  moft  secret 
and  peculiar  self.  There  is  an  inner  and  privileged 
sanctuary  of  the  heart,  which  is  kept  as  a  chamber 
locked  up.  It  is  hidden  and  sacred.  It  may  be, 
that  the  individual,  dwelling  habitually  in  the  outer 
courts  of  his  being,  rarely  if  ever  enters  into  it  him- 
self. For  man  is  twofold.  A  veil  divides  between 
the  outer  and  the  inner  man.  Gross  and  sensual, 
the  majority  of  mankind  are  averse  to  lifting  the  con- 
cealing medium,  for  fear  of  unwelcome  revelations 
and  discoveries  respecting  themselves.  Goethe  is  an 
example  of  this  portentous  preference  for  half  knowl- 
edge :  "  Man,"  he  says,  "  is  a  darkened  being  \  he 
knows  not  whence  he  came,  nor  whither  he  goes  ; 
he  knows  little  of  the  world  and  less  of  himself.  I 
know  not  myself,  and  may  God  protect  me  from  it." 

In  converfion  to  God  this  veil  is  rent  from  top  to 
b 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

bottom.  There  is  a  self-revelation.  Behind  the 
curtain,  there  in  the  Moft  Holy  Place,  where  ought 
to  be  the  Shekinah,  the  mining,  senfible  Manifefla- 
tion  of  the  Divine  Presence,  he  beholds  the  Abomi- 
nation of  Iniquity  set  up.  He  awakes  to  the  ftart- 
ling  fad  that  he  is  u  without  God  and  without  hope 
in  the  world."  A  voice  of  urgency  is  sounding  in 
his  ears:  "Flee  from  the  Wrath  to  Come."  He 
anticipates  the  terrors  of  the  Judgment.  He  feels 
that  there  is  not  a  moment  to  lose.  Instinct 
prompts,  and  the  Word  of  God  enjoins,  that  he  seek 
to  save  himself  firft.  He  knows  not  whether  others 
are  in  as  bad  a  case  as  he.  But  of  his  own  guilt  and 
danger  he  has  no  doubt.  An  offended  Maker  con- 
fronts him,  him  in  particular.  So  he  prays  and  ago- 
nizes. His  may  not  be  "the  thews  which  throw  the 
world" — he  is  conscious  of  weakness  rather  than 
ftrength — yet  fingly  and  alone,  he  wreftles  with  God 
like  Jacob,  and  prevails  like  Israel. 

The  Hymn  is  not  only  lyrical  in  its  efTence,  but 
also  in  its  form.  It  is  inftincl:  with  mufic.  It  fings 
itself.  The  grandeur  of  its  rhythm,  and  the  aflb- 
nance  and  chime  of  its  fit  and  powerful  words,  are 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

even  in  the  ears  of  those  unacquainted  with  the  Latin 
language,  suggeftive  of  the  richeft  and  mightieft  har- 
monies. The  verse  is  ternary ;  and  the  ternary 
number,  having  been  efteemed  anciently  a  symbol 
of  perfection  and  held  in  great  veneration,  may  pos- 
sibly have  had  something  to  do  with  the  choice  of 
the  ftrophe.  Be  this  as  it  may,  its  metrical  ftruc- 
ture,  as  all  agree,  conftitutes  by  no  means  the  leaft  of 
its  extraordinary  merits.  Trench,  in  his  Selections 
from  Latin  Poetry,  speaks  of  the  metre  as  being 
grandly  devised,  and  fitted  to  bring  out  some  of  the 
nobleft  powers  of  the  Latin  language  ;  and  as  being, 
moreover,  unique,  forming  the  only  example  of  the 
kind  that  he  remembers.  He  notices  the  solemn 
effect  of  the  triple  rhyme,  comparable  to  blow  fol- 
lowing blow  of  the  hammer  on  the  anvil.  Knapp,  in 
his  Liederschatz,  likens  the  original  to  a  blaft  from 
the  trump  of  resurrection,  and  declares  its  power 
inimitable  in  any  tranflation. 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 


HE  authorfhip  of  the  Dies  Irae  is  as- 
cribed, apparently  upon  good  grounds, 
to  Thomas  of  Celano,  so  called  from  a 
small  town  of  that  name  in  Italy.  He 
was  a  friend  and  pupil  and  subsequently  the  biog- 
rapher of  St.  Francis  of  Affifi,  the  founder  of  the 
order  of  Minorites,  (called  also  Friars-Minor,  Grey 
Friars  or  Franciscans,  being  one  of  the  four  orders 
of  mendicant  friars,)  inftituted  in  1208.  Wadding, 
an  Irifhman  and  a  Minorite,  who  lived  in  the  firft 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  who  wrote  a 
hifrory  of  his  order,  exprelTlv  refers  it  to  Celano, 
He  mentions  two  other  hymns  or  Sequences  com- 
posed by  him,  one  beginning  :  Fregit  viftor  virtua- 
lis ;  the  other  :    Sanctitath  nova  figna*     The  circum* 


XIV  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

fiance  of  the  Dominican  Sixtus  Senenfis  affecting 
to  sneer  at  it,  calling  it  rhythmus  inconditus^  is  re- 
garded as  confirmatory  of  the  opinion,  that  it  was  at 
leaft  the  work  of  a  Franciscan  ;  the  bitter  rivalries 
subfifting  between  the  two  orders  affording,  it  is 
thought,  the  moft  plaufible  explanation  of  a  criticism 
so  manifeftly  splenetic  and  unjuft.  Another  cor- 
roborative circumftance  is  its  early  admiffion  into 
the  Franciscan  MifTals,  by  which  means  a  knowl- 
edge of  it  was  spread  throughout  Europe.  The 
correctness  of  this  inference  is  further  suftained  by 
the  fact,  that,  inscribed  on  a  marble  flab  in  the 
Franciscan  Church  of  St.  Francis  at  Mantua,  was 
found  one  of  the  earlieft  copies  of  the  hymn,  rep- 
resenting, it  is  believed,  the  text  as  it  came  from 
the  hands  of  the  author.  Dr.  Mohnike,  a  learned 
and  able  editor  of  the  Dies  Ine,  furnifhes  an  old 
copy  of  the  Mantuan  text,  which  differs  from  the 
Received  text  chiefly  in  this,  that  the  firft  four 
ftanzas  are  additional.  They  are  here  given  with 
a  tranflation  annexed  ;  also  the  heading  which  is  as 
follows  : 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XV 

Meditatio  Vetufta  et  Venufta 

de  Noviilimo  Judicio 
quae  Mantuse  in  sede  D.   Francisci  in 

marmore  legitur. 

1.  Cogita,  anima  fidelis, 
Ad  quid  respondere  velis, 
Chrifto  venturo  de  coelis. 

Weigh  with  solemn  thought  and  tender, 
What  response,  thou,  Soul,  wilt  render, 
Then  when  Chrift  mail  come  in  splendor 

2.  Cum  deposcet  rationem 
Ob  boni  omifllonem, 
Ob  mali  commiiiionem. 

And  thy  life  fhall  be  inspected, 
All  its  hidden  guilt  detected, 
Evil  done  and  good   neglected. 

3.  Dies  ilia,  dies  ir3e, 
Quam  conemur  praevenire 
Obviamque  Deo  ire  ; 

For  that  day  of  vengeance  neareth  : 
Ready  be  each  one  that  heareth 
God  to  meet  when  He  appeareth, 


XVI  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN 

4.     Seria  contritione, 

Gratiae  apprehenfione, 
Vitas  emendatione. 

By  repenting,  by  believing, 

By  God's  offered  grace  receiving, 

By  all  evil  courfes  leaving. 

The  succeeding  fixteen  verfes  are  the  same,  with 
flight  variations,  as  those  of  the  Church  or  Received 
text ;  but  in  place  of  the  next  verse,  which  forms 
the  17th  of  this,  beginning  :  Oro  supplex  et  acclinis, 
the  Mantuan  copy  has  the  following  for  its  21ft  and 
concluding  ftanza  : 

21.     Confors  ut  beatitatis 
Vivam  cum  juftificatis 
In  sevum  aeternitatis.   Amen. 

That  in  fellowfhip  fraternal 

With  inhabitants  supernal 

I  may  live  the  life  eternal.   Amen. 

That  the  abbreviation  of  the  poem,  by  the  omis- 
fion  of  the  four  opening  ftanzas,  adds  greatly  to  its 
general,  and  ftill  more  to  its  lyric  effectiveness,  there 
can  be  no  doubt.      The  rejected  verfes,  partaking  of 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XVli 

a  quiet  and  meditative  character,  impair  the  force  of 
the  lyric  element.  In  its  present  form,  all  is  vehe- 
ment ftir  and  movement,  from  the  grand  and  ftart- 
ling  abruptness  of  its  opening,  to  the  sweet  and 
powerful  pathos  of  its  solemn  and  impreffive  close. 

Befides  Celano,  various  other  names  have  had 
their  supporters  for  the  honor  of  the  authorfhip  of 
this  poem.  It  has  been  attributed  to  Gregory  the 
Great,  who  lived  at  a  period  some  fix  hundred 
years  earlier.  But  this  would  involve  the  neceffity 
of  suppofing  that  a  poem  of  such  extraordinary  merit 
could  remain  unknown  and  unnoticed  during  so 
many  centuries,  which  is  not  at  all  likely.  Befides, 
it  is  certain,  that,  while  rhyme  was  not  altogether 
unknown  or  unused  at  that  time,  it  had  by  no  means 
reached  that  ftate  of  perfection  which  this  poem 
exhibits.* 

Leonard  Meifter,  a  Swiss  writer,  claimed  that 
Felix  Hammerlin,  (Latinized  into  Malleolus,)  a 
Church  dignitary  of  Zurich,  born  in  1389,  and  who 
died  about  1457,  was  tne  autnor  of  Dies  Irae,  because 
among  Hammerlin's  poems  he  found  a  manuscript 
of  this  hymn  ;  but  the  evidence  is  quite  conclufive, 
*  See   Appendix — Origin  of  Latin   Rhyme. 


XV111  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

that  the  hymn  was  in  exiftence  before  his  time.  In 
the  Hammerlin  text,  the  16th  verse  is  followed  by 
eight  more,  probably  supplied  by  Hammerlin  him- 
self.    They  are  here  subjoined. 

17.  Oro  supplex  a  ruinis, 
Cor  contritum  quail  cinis  : 
Gere  curam  mei  finis ! 

From  the  ruins  of  creation, 
Make  I  contrite  supplication  : 
Interpose  for  my  salvation  ! 

18.  Lachrymosa  die  ilia, 
Cum  resurget  ex  favilla, 
Tanquam  ignis  ex  scintilla, 

On  that  day  of  woe  and  weeping, 
When,  like  fire  from  spark  upleaping, 
Starts,  from  afhes  where  he's   fleeping, 

19.  Judicandus  homo  reus, 
Huic  ergo  parce,  Deus ! 
Efto  semper  adjutor  meus  ! 

Man  account  to  Thee  to  render : 
Spare  the  miserable   offender  ! 
Be  my  Helper  and  Defender  ! 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XL\ 

20.  Quando  coeli  sunt  movendi, 
Dies  adsunt  tunc  tremendi, 
Nullum  tempus  pcenitendi. 

When  the  heavens  away  are  flying, 
Days  of  trembling  then  and  crying, 
For  repentance  time  denying; 

21.  Sed  salvatis  laeta  dies, 
Et  damnatis  nulla  quies, 
Sed  daemonum  effigies. 

To  the  saved  a  day  of  gladness, 
To  the  damned  a  day  of  sadness, 
Demon  forms  and  fhapes  of  madness* 

22.  O  tu  Deus  majeftatis, 
Alme  candor  Trinitatis, 
Nunc  conjunge  cum  beads ! 

God  of  infinite  perfection, 
Trinity's  serene  reflection, 
Give  me  part  with  the  election  ! 

23.  Vitam  meam  fac  felicem 
Propter  tuam  genetricem, 
Jefle  florem  et  r-adicem. 


XX  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

Happiness  upon  me  mower, 

For  Thy  Mother's  sake,  with  power 

Who  is  Jefle's  root  and  flower. 

24.      Praefta  nobis  tunc  levamen, 
Dulce  noftrum  fac  certamen, 
Ut  clamemus  omnes,   Amen  ! 

From  Thy  fulness  comfort  pour  us, 
Fight  Thou  with  us  or  fight  for  us, 
So  we'll  fhout,  Amen,  in  chorus. 

Taking  for  granted  that  the  Mantuan  was  the 
original  text,  it  would  follow  that  the  truncation  of 
the  four  introductory  verfes  spoken  of  had  already 
taken  place  at  the  time  of  Hammerlin  ;  and  it  is 
furthermore  obvious  that  the  17th  and  1 8th  verfes 
of  the  Received  text  muft  have  been  formed  out  of 
the  firft  three  of  the  supplemented  verfes  of  Ham- 
merlin,  as  follows,  viz.  :  by  subftituting,  in  the  17th 
verse,  "  et  acclinis "  for  "  a  ruinis,"  and  taking 
the  firft  two  lines  of  the  two  succeeding  verfes, 
being  triplets,  to  make  up  the  18th  verse,  which 
confifts  of  four  lines.  Bating  a  few  verbal  varia- 
tions, the  firft   fixteen  verfes  of  the   Hammerlin  and 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXI 

Church  texts  correspond.  The  laft  named  is  founded 
on  the  Roman  Miffal  firft  publifhed  in  1567,  under 
the  sanction  and  after  the  revifion  of  the  Council  of 
Trent.  It  forms  the  bafis  of  the  present,  as  it  does 
of  moft  translations . 

A  brief  reference  to  some  of  the  more  important 
variations  in  the  text,  and  an  explanation  of  certain 
allufions  which  occur  therein,  may  not  be  unintereft- 
ing.  The  firft  line,  Dies  ira^  dies  illa^  plainly 
points  to  a  paffage  of  Scripture  from  the  Vulgate, — 
Zephaniah  I.  15.  The  whole  verse  reads  thus  : 
"  Dies  ir^e,  dies  illa,  dies  tribulationis  et  anguftiae, 
dies  calamitatis  et  miseriae,  dies  tenebrarum  et  caligi- 
nis,  dies  nebulae  et  turbinis,  dies  tubae  et  clangoris." 
In  the  third  line,  the  change  of  the  Mantuan  read- 
ing, "  Petro "  into  "  David,"  as  it  now  ftands, 
may  have  been  due,  it  is  conjectured,  to  a  feeling 
that  there  was  greater  appropriateness  in  David's 
being  affociated  with  the  ante-Chriftian  Sibyl.  From 
the  averfion  felt  to  the  introduction  of  a  heathen 
Sibyl  into  a  Chriftian  and  ftill  more  a  Church 
hymn,  a  Miffal  of  the  diocese  of  Metz,  publifhed  in 
1778,  rejecting  the  third    line,  adopts,  but  without 


XX11  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

the  authority  of  a  fingle  manuscript,  another  reading 
as  follows  : 

Dies  irae,  dies  ilia, 
Crucis  expandens  vexilla, 
Solvet  saeclum  in  favilla. 

Day  of  wrath,  that  day  amazing, 
High  the  bannered  cross  upraifing, 
While  the  universe  is  blazing. 

The  allufion  here  is  to  the  fign  of  the  coming  of 
the  Son  of  Man  in  heaven,  mentioned  in  Matthew 
xxiv.  3  ;  and  is  indicative  of  the  belief,  that  the  fign 
there  spoken  of  would  have  its  fulfilment  in  the 
apparition  of  a  cross  in  the  iky.  But  the  older  and 
the  true  reading  is  doubtless  the  other,  which  refers 
to  the  Sibyl  as  bearing  concurrent  teftimony  with 
the  prophet  of  the  Old  or  the  New  Teftament, 
David  or  Peter,  (Psalm  xcvi.  13  ;  xcvii.  3  ;  xi. 
6  ;  2  Peter  iii.  7,)  touching  the  deftru&ion  of  the 
world  and  the  final  judgment.  The  2d,  7th,  and  8th 
books  of  the  "  Sibylline  Oracles  "  are  full  of  pas- 
sages which  refer  to  these,  but  it  is  probable  that  the 
reference    here    is    more    immediately  to  verfes  ex- 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXU1 

tracked  therefrom,  found  in  Lactantius  (Divin.  In- 
ftitut.  lib.  vii.  De  Vita  Beata,  cap.  16-24).  ^n  tne 
earlier  ages  of  the  Church,  these  pretended  prophecies 
were  regarded  with  no  little  veneration  ;  wherefore 
it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  to  find  Chriftian  writ- 
ers placing  them  fide  by  fide  with  Scriptural  proph- 
ecies, and,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  making  solemn 
appeal  to  them.  The  discovery  of  their  true  char- 
after  as  worthless  forgeries  was  reserved  for  a  later 
period. 

This  poem,  which,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe, 
was  originally  the  inspiration  of  retirement,  the  soli- 
tary outpouring  of 

"  a  suppliant  heart  all  crufhed 
And  crumbled  into  contrite  duft," — 

to  adopt  the  language  of  Crafhaw's  verfion  at  the  17th 
verse, —  came  afterwards,  when  it  had  pafied  into 
Church  use,  to  receive  the  title  of  Sequence,  from 
the  place  afligned  to  it  in  the  service  of  the  Mass 
for  the  Dead.  The  precise  time  when  this  occurred 
cannot  be  determined,  but  it  muft  have  been  early, 
for  Albizzi  speaks  of  it  as  being  in  common  use 
as   a  Sequence  in  1385.      For  an  explanation  of  this 


XXIV  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

term,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  Appendix  at  the 
end  of  this  volume. 

If  the  origin  of  the  hymn  be  somewhat  obscure, 
not  so  have  been  its  subsequent  fortunes.  Through 
the  long  centuries  that  have  elapsed  fince  the 
time  it  firft  became  known  to  the  world,  its  ex- 
traordinary merits  have  been  fteadily  recognized. 
Its  light  has  been  that  of  a  ftar,  whose  keen  and 
diamond  luftre  intermits  not  nor  grows  dim,  but 
mines  on  the  same  from  age  to  age.  Its  million 
from  the  beginning  has  been  one  of  power.  To 
some,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  it  has  been  "  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation."  Scattered  every- 
where along  its  track  are  seen  the  luminous  foot- 
prints of  its  victorious  progress  as  the  subduer  of 
hearts.  The  greater!  minds  have  delighted  to  bear 
teftimony  to  its  worth.  Goethe  evinced  his  appre- 
ciation of  it  by  introducing  certain  verses  of  it  into 
his  "Fauft," — with  how  grand  an  effect  we  all  know. 
Boswell  relates  of  Dr.  Johnson,  that,  "  when  he 
would  try  to  repeat  the  celebrated  Prosa  Ecclefiajiica 
pro  Mortuis,  beginning  :  Dies  irce,  dies  illa^  he  could 
never  pass  the  ftanza  ending  thus  :  Tantus  labor  non 
fit  caJfuS)  without  burfting   into  a  flood  of  tears." 


HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXV 

It  is  said  that  Ancina,  a  Profeffor  of  Medicine  in 
the  Univerfity  of  Turin,  was  so  ftrongly  affected  by 
hearing  one  day  the  Dies  Ira?  chanted  in  the  service 
for  the  dead,  that  he  determined  to  abandon  the 
world.  He  afterwards  became  Bifhop  of  Saluzzo. 
Milman,  in  his  "  Hiftory  of  Chriftianity,"  speaking  of 
the  Latin  poetry  of  the  Chriftian  Church,  remarks  : 
cc  There  is  nothing,  in  my  judgment,  to  be  compared 
with  the  monkifh  Dies  ira^  dies  ilia"  To  these 
names  might  be  added  those  of  many  other  eminent 
scholars  and  critics,  all  bearing  like  teftimony.  But 
the  crowning  proof  of  its  unrivalled  excellence  is 
found  in  the  fact,  that,  mingled  with  the  fighs  and 
gaspings  of  diffolving  Nature,  the  measured  beat  of 
its  melodious  rhythm  has  been  so  often  heard  ;  now, 
it  may  be,  in  the  soft  murmur  of  words  half  audible, 
and  now  in  the  clear  tones  of  a  diftinct  utterance, 
iffuing  from  the  pale  and  trembling  lips  of  the  dying. 
The  Earl  of  Roscommon,  we  are  told,  repeated  with 
great  energy  and  devotion,  in  the  moment  when  he 
expired,  two  lines  of  his  own  tranflation  of  the  17th 
verse  : — 

"  My  God,  my  Father,  and  my  Friend, 
Do  not  forsake  me  in  my  end  !  " 
d 


XXVI  HISTORY    OF    THE    HYMN. 

Sir  Walter  Scott  evinced  his  regard  for  it  in  the  same 
affecting  manner,  during  his  laft  hours  :  "  We  very 
often,"  says  his  biographer,  "  heard  diftinctly  the 
cadence  of  the  Dies  Irae." 

It  is  certainly  somewhat  remarkable,  that,  while 
thus  solemnly  aflbciated  with  the  dying  moments  of 
these  two  illuftrious  matters  of  song,  who  had  likewise 
employed  their  pens  in  the  tafk  of  rendering  it  into 
Englifh,  it  mould  have  had  a  connection  not  diffim- 
ilar  with  the  death  of  that  great  composer  by  whose 
means  this  immortal  poem  has  come  to  be  worthily 
wedded  to  immortal  mufic.  It  is  well  known  that 
Mozart's  Requiem  is  founded  on  it.  This,  his 
greateft  work,  perhaps,  was  deftined  also  to  be  his 
laft,  of  which,  it  is  said,  he  had  a  solemn  presenti- 
ment. His  death  occurred  before  it  was  entirely 
finifhed.  Befides  Mozart,  other  diftinguifhed  com- 
posers, such  as  Cherubini,  Haydn,  Jomelli,  Palaftrina, 
and  Pergolefi,  have  exercised  their  genius  upon  the 
same  theme  and  the  same  text. 


TRANSLATIONS    OF   THE    HYMN. 


HE  number  of  tranflations  made  of  this 
hymn  into  different  languages  it  were 
not  easy  to  eftimate.  Those  in  Ger- 
r-s>3i  man  are  particularly  numerous.  In  a 
work  dedicated  to  these,  edited  by  Dr.  F.  G.  Lisco, 
(Berlin,  1840,)  as  many  as  seventy  verfions,  more  or 
less  complete,  are  given  ;  the  number  being  further 
increased  three  years  afterwards  by  the  addition  of 
seventeen  others,  appended  to  a  volume  of  tranfla- 
tions,  by    the   same   editor,   of  the   Stabat  Mater.* 


*  For  the  loan  of  both  the  above  works  the  writer  is  in- 
debted to  the  Rev.  William  R.  Williams,  D.  D.,  who,  in  a 
Note,  afterwards  somewhat  enlarged  and  thrown  into  an  Appen- 
dix, affixed  to  an  Address  on  the  "  Conservative  Principle  of 
our  Literature,"  firil  published  in  1843,  and  subsequently  in- 
cluded  in  his  volume  of  "  Miscellanies,"   has,  with  his  usual 


XXVlll  TRANSLATIONS     OF     THE     HYMN. 

There  is  one  in  French,  one  in  Romaic  or  Modern 
Greek,  one  in  Dutch,  and  one  in  Latin,  all  the  reft 
being  German.  In  nearly  every  case,  pains  have 
been  taken  to  preserve  the  exacT:  measure  and  form 
of  the  original.  The  superior  flexibility  of  the  Ger- 
man, and  its  greater  supply  of  words  adapted  for 
double  rhyme,  give  tranflators  in  that  language  a 
decided  advantage.  The  difficulty  involved  in  tripli- 
cating the  double  rhymes,  owing  to  the  poverty  of 
our  language  in  words  suitable  for  the  purpose,  with- 
out prac~hfing  awkward  and  inelegant  inverfions,  is 
probably  the  reason  why  English  tranflators,  even 
where  they  have  been  careful  to  retain  the  triplet 
form  of  the  ftanza,  have  failed  to  preserve  the 
rhyming  close. 

Crafhaw's,  one  of  the  oldeft  and  nobleft  of  the 
English  tranflations,  and  which  in  the  opinion  of  an 
eminent  critic  was  not  surpafled  by  anything  he  ever 
wrote,  is  done  in  quatrains,  or  Angle  rhymed  couplets 

eloquence  and  exhauftive  learning,  given  a  very  full  and  inftruc- 
tive  account  of  this  hymn  and  its  tranflations  ;  adding  in  the 
later  editions  a  verfion  of  his  own,  one  of  the  first  made  in 
ternary  double  rhvme. 


TRANSLATIONS     OF     THE     HYMN.  XXIX 

repeated  ;  and,  on  account  of  the  freeness  of  the  ren- 
dering, might  more  properly  be  called  a  reproduction 
than  a  tranflation.  The  Earl  of  Roscommon,  cele- 
brated in  Dryden's  verse  as  the  greateft  poet  of  his 
time,  was  the  author  of  a  verfion  praised  by  Pope 
as  the  belt  of  his  poetical  performances  ;  although  he 
is  confidered  as  having  borrowed  both  from  Crafhaw 
and  Dryden.  It  is  in  triplets  like  the  original,  but 
without  double  rhyme,  and  the  verse  is  iambic  in- 
ftead  of  trochaic. 

The  few  verfes  introduced  by  Sir  Walter  Scott 
into  the  tc  Lay  of  the  Laft  Minftrel,"  and  which  have 
found  their  way  into  almoft  all  the  more  recent  Col- 
lections of  Hymns  used  in  our  Churches,  though 
spirited  and  impreflive,  can  scarcely  be  called  a  trans- 
lation, being  little  more  than  an  echo  of  one  or  two 
of  the  leading  sentiments  of  the  Latin  original. 
Another  familiar  hymn,  contained  in  moft  Hymn 
books,   commencing, 

"  Lo  !   He  comes  in  clouds  descending," 

purports  to  be  a  tranflation  of  the  Dies  Irae  ;  but 
in  respect  neither  to  form  nor  spirit  does   it  corre- 


XXX  TRANSLATIONS     OF    THE     HYMN. 

spond  very  accurately  to  the  original.  Although  there 
are  other  verfions  of  more  or  less  merit,  some  made 
by  our  own  scholars,  a  further  enumeration  might  be 
tedious.  "  It  is  not  wonderful,"  as  Trench  remarks, 
"that  a  poem  such  as  this  mould  have  continually 
allured  and  continually  defied  tranflators." 

The  Author  of  the  Tranflations  here  publifhed 
scarcely  knows  how  to  fhield  himself  from  the  im- 
putation of  presumption  to  which  his  attempt  ex- 
poses him.  The  number  of  his  verfions  is  Thir- 
teen. The  first  fix  have  the  somewhat  rare  merit, 
so  far  at  leaft  as  Englifh  verfions  are  concerned,  of 
being  metrically  conformed,  both  as  it  respects 
rhyme  and  rhythm,  to  the  original.  The  five  suc- 
ceeding ones  are  like  in  rhythm,  but  vary  from  the 
original  in  not  preserving  the  double  rhyme.  The 
one  which  follows  is  in  iambic  triplets,  like  Roscom- 
mon's \  and  the  laft  in  quatrains,  after  the  manner 
of  Crafliaw's  verfion. 

It  has  been  the  aim  of  the  Tranflator  to  be  in  all 
cafes  as  faithful  as  poflible  to  the  senfe  and  spirit 
of  the  original,  and  likewise  to  the  letter,  but  not 
so    flaviflily   as    to   preclude  variety.       He    has   en- 


TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN.  XXXi 

deavored  to  carry  out  likeness  in  unlikeness,  and  to 
give  to  each  verfion,  so  far  as  practicable,  the  intereft 
of  a  diftinct  poem.  How  far  he  has  succeeded 
others  muft  judge.  The  preservation  of  the  double 
rhyme  involved  some  special  difficulties,  which  he  has 
overcome  as  well  as  he  could  ;  but  he  would  not  be 
surprised  if  some  readers  preferred  the  eafier  metres, 
and  indulges  the  hope  that  the  multiplication  of  ver- 
fions  may  serve,  among  other  things,  to  meet  this 
diverfity  of  tafte.  But  there  are  some,  if  he  mis- 
takes not,  who  enjoy  those  pleasing  surprises  in 
viewing  an  object,  that  result  from  an  altered  atti- 
tude and  a  new  angle  of  vision, — the  curious  changes 
which  follow  every  fresh  turn  of  a  revolving  kaleido- 
scope,— and  the  writer  is  willing  therefore  to  believe 
that  such,  at  any  rate,  will  not  be  displeased  at  this 
attempt  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  one  verfion  by 
another  and  yet  another,  in  the  hope  that  thereby 
the  original  may  be  exhibited,  approximately  at  least, 
in  its  solid  entireness. 

Young,  in  his  "  EfTay  on  Lyric  Poetry,"  afferts 
that  difficulty  overcome  gives  grace  and  pleasure, 
and  he  accounts  for  the  pleasure  of  rhyme  in  general 


XXX11  TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN. 

upon  this  principle.  Having  failed  in  his  own  case 
to  afford  an  exemplification  of  great  success  in  this 
particular,  his  critic  and  biographer,  Johnson,  some- 
what sarcaftically  remarks :  "  But  then  the  writer 
muft  take  care  that  the  difficulty  is  overcome  ;  that 
is,  he  muft  make  rhyme  confift  with  as  perfect 
senfe  and  expreffion  as  would  be  expected,  if  he 
were  perfectly  free  from  that  fhackle."  Hence,  the 
greater  the  difficulties  to  be  surmounted,  the  greater 
is  the  need  of  elaboration,  until  art  conceals  art. 

The  present  Tranflator,  recognizing  fully  the  pro- 
priety of  the  rule  here  ftated,  does  not  feel  that  he 
has  any  right  to  plead  the  arduousness  of  his  tafk,  as 
an  excuse  for  any  inftances,  if  such  there  be,  of 
forced  and  unnatural  conftruction,  resorted  to  in 
order  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  rhyme  or  metre. 
What  is  called  poetic  license  is,  he  is  aware,  a 
license  of  power  and  grace,  and  not  of  weakness  and 
deformity,  being  tantamount  to  a  license  to  dance  or 
fing,  in  place  of  ordinary  walking  or  speaking.  Po- 
etic chains,  undoubtedly,  were  meant  not  to  confine 
and  cripple,  but  to  regulate  movement  in  conformity 
vvith  settled   laws  ;    the  object  being,  not  to  punifh 


rRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN,  XXX1I1 

speech,  but  to  exalt  and  honor  it,— to  grace  language, 
not  disgrace  it. 

To  preserve,  in  connection  with  the  utmost  fidelity 
and  ftrictness  of  rendering,  all  the  rhythmic  merits 
of  the  Latin  original, — to  attain  to  a  vital  likeness  as 
well  as  to  an  exact  literalness,  at  the  same  time  that 
nothing  is  sacrificed  of  its  mufical  sonorousness  and 
billowy  grandeur,  easy  and  graceful  in  its  swing  as 
the  ocean  on  its  bed, — to  make  the  verbal  copy, 
otherwise  cold  and  dead,  glow  with  the  fire  of  lyric 
passion, — to  reflect,  and  that  too  by  means  of  a  fingle 
verfion,  the  manifold  aspects  of  the  many-sided  orig- 
inal, exhaufting  at  once  its  wonderful  fulness  and 
pregnancy, — to  cause  the  white  light  of  the  primitive 
so  to  pass  through  the  medium  of  another  language 
as  that  it  fhall  undergo  no  refraction  whatever, — 
would  be  defirable,  certainly,  were  it  practicable  ; 
but  so  much  as  this  it  were  unreasonable  to  expect 
in  any  tranflation. 

All  the  verfions  here  given  were  written  and  nearly 

ready  for  the  press   more  than  two  years  ago  ;   but, 

influenced   partly  by  a  senfe  of  their  imperfectness, 

and  partly  by  a  doubt  as  to  the  reception  that  a  book 

e 


XXXIV  TRANSLATIONS    OF    THE    HYMN. 

exclufively  devoted  to  a  fingle  hymn  might  meet 
with  from  the  public,  the  Translator  has  delayed 
their  appearance  until  now,  when,  encouraged  by 
the  favorable  opinion  expreffed  by  some,  whose 
names,  were  it  proper  to  give  them,  would  be  re- 
garded, he  doubts  not,  as  an  apology  for  his  bold- 
ness, he  ventures  the  experiment  of  publication. 
He  does  not  deny  that  the  amount  of  public  favor 
that  has  been  already  accorded  to  two  of  the  ver- 
fions,  viz.,  those  marked  1.  and  II.,  publifhed  anony- 
moufly  in  the  "Newark  Daily  Advertiser"  sev- 
eral years  fince,  the  firft  as  long  ago  as  1847,  nas 
had  something  to  do  with  overcoming  his  diftruft. 
To  avoid  misapprehenfion,  it  is  right  to  ftate,  that 
two  verses  of  the  firft  were  introduced  into  Mrs. 
Stowe's  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  and  by  these  acci- 
dental means  have  enjoyed  a  world-wide  currency. 
More  recently  this  verfion  has  been  honored  with 
a  place  in  the  "  Plymouth  Collection  of  Hymns  and 
Tunes,"  edited  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  and  set 
to  mufic.  It  was,  so  far  as  the  Translator  knows, 
the  firft  attempt,  with  a  fingle  exception,  to  repro- 
duce in  English  the  ternary  double  rhyme  of  the 
original. 


n 

5 


1 


t 


NOV 


»IMO  JUDICIO. 


1  ^„ ...::: ..-    ::t': 
Cuncia  ftricti 


"TV: 


. !  c  - :  i 


'  e  ^ . 


Judicanti  responsura. 


DIES    IRiE. 

Liber  scriptus  proferetur, 
In  quo  totum  continetur, 
De  quo   mundus  judicetur. 

Judex  ergo  quum  sedebit, 
Quidquid  latet,  apparebit, 
Nil  inultum  remanebit. 

Quod  sum  miser  tunc  dicturus, 
Quern  patronum   rogaturus, 
Quum  vix  juftus  fit  securus  ? 

Rex  tremendae  majeftatis, 
Qui  salvandos  salvas  gratis, 
Salva  me,  fons  pietatis ! 

Recordare,  Jesu  pie, 
Quod  sum  causa  tuae   viae, 
Ne   me  perdas  ilia  die  ! 

Quaerens   me  sedifti  lafl'us, 
Redemifti  crucem   partus  : 
Tantus  labor  non   fit  caffus  ! 


DIES     1RJE. 

Jufte  Judex   ultionis, 
Donum   fac   remiffionis 
Ante  diem  rationis  ! 

Ingemisco  tanquam  reus, 
Culpa  rubet  vultus  meus  : 
Supplicanti  parce,  Deus  ! 

Qui  Mariam  absolvifti, 
Et  latronem  exaudifti, 
Mihi  quoque   spem  dedifti. 

Praeces   meae  non   sunt  dignae, 
Sed  tu  bonus  fac  benigne 
Ne  perenni  cremer  igne  ! 

Inter  oves  locum  praeita, 
Et  ab  haedis   me  sequeftra, 
Statuens  in   parte  dextra ! 

Confutatis   malediclis, 
Flammis  acribus  addi£lis, 
Voca   me  cum   benediclis  ! 


DIES    IRJE. 


Oro  supplex  et  acclinis, 
Cor  contritum  quasi  cinis : 
Gere  curam   mei   finis  ! 

Lachrymosa  dies   ilia, 
Qua  resurget  ex   favilla, 
Judicandus   homo  reus  : 
Huic   ergo   parce,   Deus ! 


I. 


AY   of  wrath,  that  day  of  burning, 
A»    Seer  and  Sibyl  speak  concerning, 
V    All   the  world    to   allies   turning. 

m 


Oh,   what  fear  fhall   it   engender, 

When  the  Judge   fhall  come  in  splendor, 

Strict  to   mark  and  juft  to   render  ! 

Trumpet,   scattering  sounds  of  wonder, 
Rending  sepulchres   asunder, 
Shall  resiftless   summons   thunder. 


All  aghaft   then   Death   fhall  Oliver, 
And  great  Nature's   frame  fhall  quiver, 
When  the  graves  their  dead   deliver. 


DIES    1RJE. 

Book,  where  actions  are  recorded, 

All  the  ages   have  afforded, 

Shall   be   brought  and  dooms  awarded. 

When  mall   fit  the  Judge  unerring, 
He'll  unfold  all  here  occurring, 
No  juft  vengeance  then  deferring. 

What  mail   /  say,  that  time   pending  ? 
Ask  what  advocate's  befriending, 
When  the  juft  man  needs  defending  r 

Dreadful  King,  all  power  poflefling, 
Saving  freely  those  confeffing, 
-    Save  thou   me,   O   Fount  of  Blefling  ! 

Think,  O  Jesus,   for  what  reason 

Thou  didft  bear  earth's  spite  and  treason, 

Nor  me  lose  in  that  dread  season  ! 

Seeking  me   Thy  worn   feet  hafted, 
»    On  the  cross   Thy  soul  death   tafted  : 
Let  such   travail  not  be   wafted  ! 


DIES    IR^E. 


Righteous  Judge  of  retribution  ! 
Make  me  gift  of  absolution 
Ere  that  day  of  execution  ! 

Culprit-like,   I  plead,  heart-broken, 
On  my  cheek  fhame's  crimson  token  : 
Let  the  pardoning  word  be  spoken  ! 

Thou,  who  Mary  gav'ft  remiffion, 
Heard'ft   the  dying  Thief's   petition, 
Cheer'ft  with   hope   my  loft  condition. 

Though   my  prayers   be  void  of  merit, 
What  is  needful,   Thou  confer  it, 
Left  I   endless   fire   inherit  ! 

Be  there,  Lord,   my  place  decided 
With  Thy  fheep,   from  goats  divided, 
Kindly  to  Thy  right  hand  guided  ! 

When  th'  accursed  away  are  driven, 

To  eternal  burnings  given, 

Call   me  with  the  blessed  to   heaven! 


DIES    IRiE. 

I  beseech  Thee,  proftrate  lying, 
Heart  as  afhes,  contrite,  fighing, 
Care   for  me   when   I   am   dying  ! 

Day  of  tears  and  late  repentance, 
Man  (hall  rise  to  hear  his  sentence  : 
Him,  the  child  of  guilt  and  error, 
Spare,   Lord,   in  that  hour  of  terror  ! 


II. 


AY   fhall  dawn  that  has   no  morrow, 
Day  of  vengeance,   day  of  sorrow, 
As   from   Prophecy  we  borrow. 


It  fhall  burn,  that  day  of  trouble, 
As  a  furnace  heated  double, 
And  the   wicked   fhall  be   ftubble. 

O,  what  trembling,  when  the  rifted 
Skies  fhall  (how  the  Judge  uplifted, 
And   all   ftrictly  (hall  be   fifted ! 

Trump  fhall  sound  a  blaft  appalling, 
On  the  grave's  deep  flillness  falling, 
Small  and  great  before   Him  calling. 


Death   with   fear  fhall   be  o'ertaken, 
Nature  to  her  base  be   fhaken, 
When   the   fleeping  dead   fhall   waken. 


10  DIES    IRJE. 

Volume  mail  be  brought,  whose  pages 

Regifter  the  deeds  of  ages, 

Whence  the  world  mall  have  juft  wages. 

When  that  Court  fhall  hold  its  seflion, 
Every  mouth  fhall  make  confeflion, 
Left  unpunifhed  no  transgreflion. 

How,  alas  !   in  that  dread  season, 
Shall  I  answer  for  my  treason, 
When  the  righteous  fear  with  reason  ? 

Awful  King,  who  nothing  craveft, 
Since  Thyself  full  ransom  gaveft, 
Save  Thou  me,  who  freely  saveft ! 

Me,  for  whom,  with  love  so  tender, 
Thou  didft  leave  Thy  throne  of  splendor, 
Jesus,  do  not  then  surrender  ! 

Wearily  for  me  Thou  toiledft, 
Diedft  for  me  and  Satan  spoiledft  : 
Let  not  triumph  whom  Thou  foiledft  ! 


DIES    1RJE.  II 

Thou,  whose  frown  will  be  damnation, 
Grant  me  earneft  of  salvation, 
Ere  that  day  of  consummation  ! 

Culprit-like,  I,  self-convicted, 
Blufhing,  proftrate,  and  affli&ed, 
Kneel  for  mercy  unreftricted. 

Thou,  who  Mary's   faith  rewardedft, 
Pardon  to  the  Thief  accordedft,   *. 
Me,  too,  trembling  hope  affordedft. 

Poor  my  prayers,  but  give  ensample 
Of  Thy  goodness  rich  and  ample, 
Left  insulted  Juftice  trample  ! 

With  Thy  chosen  flock  unspotted, 
Severed  from  the  herd  besotted, 
Be  my  place  that  day  allotted  ! 

When  Thy  curse  fhall  blaft  and  wither, 

Doom  to  hell  and  banifh  thither, 

Bid  me  with   the  blefled,  Come   hither  ! 


\2 


DIES     IR^E. 


Care  for  me  as  one  who  feareth, 
One  who  hafteth   when  he  heareth, 
When  my  solemn  exit  neareth! 

When  the  light  of  that  day  flames, 
And  man  rises  from  his  afhes 
At  Thy  bar  account  to  render, 
Spare  then,  Lord,  the  pale  offender  ! 


III. 

AY   of  Vengeance  and  of  Wages, 
Fiery  goal  of  all  the  ages, 
Burden  of  prophetic  pages  ! 


Guilty  wretches,  vainly  fleeing 

From  that  flaming  Eye,  whose  seeing 

Searches  all  the  depths  of  being. 

Wakened  by  that  Trump  of  Wonder, 
Answering  Earthquakes,  roaring  under, 
Heave  and  split  the  ground  asunder ; 

And  the  buried  generations, 
People  of  all  times  and  nations, 
Live  again  and  take  their   ftations, 

Each   immortal   pale  offender, 

Round  the  Great  White   Throne  of  Splendor, 

Strict  account  to  God  to  render  ; 


14  DIES    IR^E. 

Who,   unmocked  and  unmiftaken, 
Shall  pronounce  the  doom   unfhaken, 
And  long  flumbering  vengeance  waken. 

What  if  weighed  and  found  deficient  ? 
Standing  at    that  bar  omniscient, 
Who  hath  righteousness  sufficient  ? 

King  of  Holiness  unspotted, 
By  Thy  merit  me  allotted 
Let  my  guilt  be  freely  blotted  ! 

Me,  for  whom  Thou  fhame  didft  borrow, 
Trod'ft  the  paths  of  earthly  sorrow, 
Lose  not  on  that  dreadful  morrow ! 

Seeking  me  Thou  weary  sankeft, 

All  my  cup  of  trembling  drankeft, 

Nor  from  death,  to  save  me,  shrankeft. 

Muft   I   fink  yet  to  perdition  ? 
God  of  Vengeance,  grant  remiflion, 
Ere  that  Day  of  Inquifition  ! 


DIES    IRJE.  15 

Filled  with  fhame  and  confirmation, 
Lifting  hands  of  supplication, 
Spare  me,  God  of  my  Salvation  ! 

Let  such  grace  be  manifefted, 

As  on  weeping  Mary  refted, 

As  was  towards  the  Thief  attefted  ! 

Though  no  worth  in  me  discerning, 
Spurn  not,  though  I  merit  spurning  : 
Rescue  me  from  endless  burning  L 

When  divifion  is  effected 

'Mong  the  race  of  men  collected, 

Leave  me  not  with  the  rejected  ! 

When  Thy  curse  from  Thee  mall  sever, 
Kindling  hells,  extinguifhed  never, 
Join  me  to  Thyself  forever  ! 

From  the  afhes  of  contrition, 
From  the  depths  I   make  petition  : 
Grant  my  soul  a  safe  dismiffion  ! 


i6 


DIES      1RJE. 


When  that  day  fhall   snare   th'   unwary, 
And  fhall  guilty  man   unbury, 
Spare   me   then.   Dread   Adversary  ! 


TV. 

AY   of  Prophecy  !    it  flafhes, 
Falling  spheres    together  dailies, 
And   the   world   consumes  to  afhes. 


O,   what   fear  of  wrath   impending, 
When  the  Judge   is   seen   descending, 
Inquifition   ftrict   intending ! 

God's  awakening  Trump  mail   scatter 
Summons   through   the   world   of  matter, 
And  the  Throne  of  Death   fhall  matter. 

What  amazement,  when   forgotten 
Generations,  dead  and  rotten, 
Suddenly  are  rebegotten  ! 

Boole  and   Record   universal 
Shall  be  opened   for  rehearsal, 
Whence  the  doom   without   reversal. 
3 


:^  DIES     IR^E. 

When  by  that  dread  Judge  inspected, 
Nothing  fhall   pass   undetected, 
Unavenged  nor  uncorrected. 

How   fhall  I,  a  wretch   unliable, 

Bide  that  hour  inevitable, 

When   the  juft   man   scarce  is  able  ? 

Dreadful  King,  from   Thee,  the  Giver, 
Flows  salvation  like  a  river  : 
Fount  of  Mercy,  me  deliver  ' 

Thou,  who,  touched  with   my  condition, 
Sought  to  save   me   from  perdition, 
Be  Thou   mindful  of  Thy  miflion  ! 

Let  Thy  death  for  my  offences, 
Horror  of  Thy  soul  and  senses, 
Be  not  void  of  consequences ! 

Blot  my   fins,   ere  that  revifion, 
Day  of  ultimate  decifion, 
When   Thy   foes  are   in  derifion : 


] 

] 
_ 

0 

- 
] 
_ 

- 

1 


20  DIES    1RJE. 

Day.  of  tears,   consuming,   cruel, 
With  a  burning  world  for  fuel, 
Man  fhall  rise   from  glowing  embers, 
Made  complete  in  all   his   members  : 
Ah !  what  plea  will  then  be  valid, 
When  the  finner,  trembling,   pallid, 
Waits  to  hear  his  sentence  given  ? 
Spare  him  then,  O  God  of  Heaven ! 


AY  of  vengeance,  end  of  scorning, 
World  in  afhes,  world  in   mourning, 
Whereof  Prophets   utter  warning  ! 


O,  what  trembling,  when   the   falling 
Rocks  and   mountains  hear  men  calling, 
"Hide  me   from  that  face  appalling!  " 

Freezing  fear  the  blood  will  thicken, 
Death  and    Hell   be   horror-ftricken, 
When  the   myftic  Trump  fhall  quicken 

All  the  buried  duft  of  ages, — 
Monarchs,  chieftains,  ftatesmen,  sages, 
Aitors  on  unnumbered   ftages, — 

Summoned   to  the  dread  recital 
Of  that  Record   ftricSt  and   vital, 
Basis  of  a  juft  requital. 


22  DIES    IRA. 

Every  mafk  of  falsehood  riven, — 
Guilt,   from  every  covert  driven, 
Shall  to  punifhment  be  given. 

'Mid  the  horror  and  confufion 
Of  that  sorrowful  conclufion 
Of  each  miserable  delufion, 

Whither,  ah!  fhall  I  betake  me? 

Thou,  O  King,  whose  terrors  make  me, 

Of  Thy  grace  a  trophy  make  me ! 

Jesus  !  by  Thine  incarnation, 
By  Thy  miffion  of  salvation, 
Then  avert  juft  condemnation  ! 

By  Thy  pity,  love  unfailing, 
By  the  cross's  bitter  nailing, 
Let  not  all  be   unavailing  ! 

Dread  Avenger  of  transgreffion, 
Cleanse  these  lips  that  make  confeflion, 
Ere  th'   awards  of  that  laft  seflion. 


DIES     IKJE.  23 

Spare  a  culprit,  groans   faft   heaving, 
Self-convicted,   blufhing,  grieving, 
In  Thy  power  and  grace  believing. 

Since  Thy  nature  doth  not  vary, 

Thou,  who  heard'ft  the  Thief  and   Mary, 

My  transgreffions  blot  and  bury  ! 

Worthless   works  behind   me  cafting  — 
Grace   muft  save,  not  prayer  nor  fafting, 
From   the   fire  that's  everlafting. 

On  Thy   right  hand   fix   my   ftation 
With  the  chosen  generation, 
In  the  fheep-fold   of  salvation  ! 

When  Thy  curse  the  wicked  chases, 
With  the  bleft  in  heavenly  places 
Call   me  to   Thy  dear  embraces ! 

Care  for  me,  whom  guilt  abafhes, 
Proftrate,  contrite,  heart  as  afhes, 
When   that  day  of  terror  flames  ! 


24 


DIES    IRJE. 


Day  of  weeping  and   of  wailing, 
Human  hearts  and  fates   unveiling  : 
Then,  when  Time  mail  be  no  longer, 
And  the   ftrong  yields   to  the   Stronger, 
Death  and   Hell  their  dead    surrender, 
And  the   Sea  its  own  mall  tender, 
Multitudinous,   unbounded 
Generations   rise  aftounded, 
Each  to  answer  for  his   finning, 
He  who  lived  at  the  beginning, 
He  who  when  the  world   is  hoary, — 
Spare,   O,  spare,  Thou   God  of  Glory! 


VI. 

3  AY   of  wrath   and   confrernation, 

Day  of  fiery  consummation, 
'    Prophefied   in   Revelation ! 


O,   what   horror  on  all   faces, 

When  the  coming  Judge  each   traces, 

Flaming,   dreadful,   in  all  places  ! 

Trump   fhall  sound,   and   every  fingle 
Mortal  slumberer's  ears  fhall  tingle, 
And   the  dead   mall  rise  and   mingle  : 

All  of  every   tribe  and   nation, 
That  have  lived   fince  the   creation, 
Answering  that  dread   citation. 

Volume,   from   which   nothing's  blotted, 
Evil  done  nor  evil   plotted, 
Shall   be  brought  and  dooms   allotted. 
4 


26  DIES    IRJ£. 

Judge,  who  fits  at  that  affizes, 
Shall,  deceived  by  no  disguises, 
Try  each   work  that  man  devises. 

How  fhall  I,  a  wretch  polluted, 

Answer  then  to  fins  imputed, 

When  the  juft  man's  case  is  mooted  ?  * 

Awful  Monarch  of  Creation  ! 
Saving  without  compensation, 
Save  me,  Fountain  of  Salvation ! 

Lose  me  not  then,  Jefus,  seeing 
I  am  Thine  by  gift  of  being, 
Doubly  Thine  by  price  of  freeing ! 

Thou,  the  Lord  of  Life  and   Glory, 
Hung'ft  a  victim  gamed  and  gory: 
Let  not  all  be  nugatory ! 

Pardon,  Thou   whose   vengeance  smiteth, 
But  whom   mercy   moft  delighteth, 
Ere  that  reckoning  day  afFrighteth  ! 


DIES    IRJE.  27 

As  a  culprit,  ftand  I  groaning, 
Blufhing,  my  demerit  owning  : 
Sprinkle  me  with  blood  atoning  ! 

Thou,  who  Mary's  sins  remittedft, 
And  the  softened  Thief  acquittedft, 
Likewise   hope  to   me  permittedft. 

Weak  these  prayers  Thy  throne  aflailing; 
But  let  grace,  o'er  guilt  prevailing, 
Save  me  from  eternal  wailing  ! 

While  the  goats  afar  are  driven, 
'Mid  Thy  fheep   me  place  be  given, 
Blood-wafhed  favorites  of  Heaven  ! 

While  "  Depart  !  "   fhall  doom  and  gather 
Those  to  flame,  address  me  rather  : 
"  Come  thou  bleffed  of  my  Father  !  " 

In  my  final  hour,  when  faileth 

Heart  and  flefh,  and   my  cheek  paleth, 

Grant  that  succor  which  availeth ! 


28 


DIES    IR^E. 


Day   unutterably  solemn  : 
Crypt  and   pyramid  and  column, 
I  fie  and  continent  and  ocean, 
Rocking  with  a  fearful  motion, 
Shall  give  up,  a  countless  number 
Starting  from   their  long,  long  (lumber, 
Horror  ftamping  every  feature, 
While  is  judged  each  finful  creature, 
End  of  pending  controversy  : 
Spare  Thou  then,  O   God  of  Mercy  ! 


VII. 

AY  of  wrath,  that  day  of  days, 
Present  to  my  thought  always, 
When     the    world     (hall     burn     and 
blaze ! 


O,  what  trembling,  O,   what  fear, 
When  th'   Omniscient  Judge  draws  near, 
Scanning  all  with   eyes   severe ! 

When  the  Trump  of  God  (hall  sound 
Through  the  vague  and  vaft  profound 
Of  the  regions   under  ground  ; 

And  th'  innumerable  dead, 
Answering  to  that  summons  dread, 
Shall  forsake  their  dufty  bed  ; 

And  that  Book  of  ancient  date 
Shall  be  opened,  whereon  wait 
Mighty  iffues  big  with   fate  , 


30  DIES    IR7E. 

And  each  secret  thing  (hall  lie 
Thenceforth  bare  to  every  eye, 
Nought  unpunifhed  or  parted  by. 

Ah,   me  !   what  mall   I  then  plead, 
Who  for  me  then  intercede, 
When  the  juft  of  help  have  need  ? 

Thou,  who  doft,  O   Heavenly  King, 
Free  forgiveness  freely  bring, 
Let  me  drink  of  Mercy's  Spring ! 

Thou  didft  empty  and  exhauft 
Heaven  for  me  :  when  such  the  coft, 
Jesus,  let  me  not  be  loft! 

Wearily  Thou  soughteft   me, 
Bought'ft  me  on  th'  accursed  tree  : 
Let  it  not  all  fruitless  be  ! 

Righteous  Judge,   who  wilt  repay, 
Grant  me  pardon,  ere   that  day 
Of  decifion  and  dismay ! 


DIES    1RJE.  31 

I,  a  finful  man  and  base, 
Blufhing,  groaning  o'er  my  case, 
Seek  and  supplicate  Thy  grace. 

Thou,  who  heardeft  Mary's  fighs, 
Thou,  who  openedft  Paradise 
To  the  Thief,  regard  my  cries  ! 

Worthless  are  my  prayers  and  worse, 
But,  good  Lord,  be  not  adverse, 
Left  I   fink  beneath  the  curse  ! 

Set  me,  when  at  Thy  command 

All  mankind  divided  ftand, 

With  the  fheep  at  Thy  right  hand  ! 

When  th'  insufferable  doom 
Shall  the  reprobate  consume, 
With  Thy  chosen  give  me  room  ! 

In  the  solemn  hour  of  death, 
When  the  earthly  vanifheth, 
O,  receive   my  parting  breath  ! 


32 


DIES    IRiE. 


Ah!  that  day  made   up  of  tears, 

When  from  afhes   reappears 

TV   Adam  of  fix  thousand  years,— 

Who,  by  its  red  glare  and  gleam, 
Sees,  as  in  an  awful  dream, 
Juftice  lift  her  trembling  beam, — 

Conscious  on  that  hinge  of  fate 
All  things  hang  and  hefitate  : 
Spare  then,  Lord,  if  not  too  late ! 


VIII. 

THAT  dreadful  day,  my  soul  ! 
Which  the  ages  fhall   unroll, 
When  the    knell    of   Time    fhall 
toll! 


O,   the  terror  and   the   fhame, 
When  the  Judge  with   eyes  of  flame 
Shall  make   piercing  search  of  blame ! 

Suddenly  the   Trumpet's  fhock 
Doors  of  Hades  fhall  unlock, 
And  before    Him  all  mall  flock. 

Struck   with   wonder  and   dismay, 
Death   and   Nature  fhall  obey 
Summons  to  give   up  their   prey. 

Loudly  each   indictment  dread 
Shall  in  every    ear  be  read 
Of  the  living  and   the  dead. 
5 


34  DIES    1RJE. 

Every  idle  word  and  thought, 
Every  work  in  secret  wrought, 
Into  Judgment  fhall  be  brought. 

Scarce  the  juft  man's  case  is  sure, 
Scarce  the   heavens  themselves  are  pure 
Ah  !  how  then  fhall  I  endure  ? 

Dreadful  Potentate  and   high, 

Who  doft  freely  juftify, 

Fount  of  Grace,  my  need  supply! 

Jefus,  mind  the  kind  intent 
Of  Thy  weary  banifhment, 
And  my  ruin  then  prevent ! 

Let  Thy  paffion  and  Thy  pain, 
All  Thou  suffered!!  me  to  gain, 
Be  not  barren  and   in  vain  ! 

Righteous  Arbiter  of  fate  ! 

Life  and  death   upon  Thee  wait, 

Pardon,   ere  it  be  too  late  ! 


DIES     IRJE. 


35 


Spare  me,   vileft  of  the  race, 
Guilty,   infamous  and  base, 
Blufhing  mendicant  of  grace  ! 

Though  of  finners   I   be   chief, 

Hear  me,   Thou   who  heard'ft  the  Thief, 

Driedft  the   fount  of  Mary's  grief! 

All   my   prayers   are  guilty   breath, 
And  the  bert  nought   meriteth  : 
But  in  mercy  save  from  death  ! 

When,  disposed  on  either  hand, 
All  mankind  before  Thee  ftand, 
Set  me  with  Thy  chosen  band  ! 

When,   O,  terrible  to   tell  ! 

Yawns   inevitable    Hell, 

With   the   bleiied   bid   me  dwell ! 

When   I   reach  the  awful  goal, 
And   Death's  billows  o'er   me  roll, 
Care   for  my   undying  soul ! 


36 


DIES    IRJE. 


Day  of  weeping  and   surprise, 
Opening  tombs   and  opening  eyes, 
Rocking  earth  and  burning  fides  ! 

Day  of  universal  dread, 

When  the  quick  and  quickened  dead 

Shall  have  solemn   sentence  said  ! 

Then,   O,  then,  when  in  despair, 
Man  mail  speak  or  fhriek  the  prayer, 
"  Spare   me  !  "   God  of  Mercy,  spare  ! 


IX. 


AY  foretold,  that  day  of  ire, 
Burden  erft  of  David's  lyre, 
When    the  world   fhall   fink  in 

hre! 


O,   what   horror  and  amaze, 
When  at  once  on   mortal  gaze 
All  the  Judge's   pomp  fhall  blaze! 

When  the   Trumpet's   myftic  blaft, 
To  the  world's   four  corners  caft, 
Disentombs  the  buried    Paft  ; 

And  from   all  the  heaving  sod, 
From   each   foot  of  trampled   clod, 
Starts  a   multitude  to   God  ; 


And   that   Volume   is   unrolled 
Wherein   are   minutely   told 
All  men's   doings   from   of  old  \ 


38  DIES     IRJE. 

While,   from   what  is  there  contained, 
Shall  be  judged  a  world  arraigned, 
And   eternal   fates  ordained  : 

What  defence   can   I   then  make, 

To  what  Patron  me  betake, 

When  the   righteous   fear  and  quake  ? 

King,  who  doft  all  power  pofTess, 
Free  Thy  grace  and  limitless, 
Save  me,  Fount  of  BleiTedness  ! 

Jefus,  Mafter,   Thou  doft  know 
I   Thy  million  caused  below, 
All  Thy  weariness  and  woe  ! 

Let  Thy  blood,   that  drenched   the   hilt 
Of  that  sword   unfheathed  for  guilt, 
Be  not   vainly  fhed  and   spilt  ! 

O   my  Judge,  forgive,   forget  ! 
Cancel  my  tremendous  debt, 
Ere  the  sun  of  grace   mail  set  ! 


DIES    1RJE.  39 

Filled   with   fhame  I   hang   my   head, 
Blufhes  deep   my  face  o'erspread  : 
Stay  Thy  lightnings  fierce  and  red  ! 

Thou  canft  darken1  ftains   efface  ; 
Haft  made  monuments  of  grace 
Of  the  vileft  of  the  race. 

My  poor  prayers  please  not  repel  ! 
Grace  and  goodness  with  Thee  dwell  : 
Snatch   me  from  the  flames  of  Hell ! 

When  Thou  fhalt  discriminate, 
Sheep  from  goats  fhalt  separate, 
Let  me  on  Thy   right  hand   wait  ! 

When  Thy  sentence,  smiting  dumb, 
Down  to   Hell  fhall    banifh  some, 
With  the  bleffed  bid   me  come ! 

To  Thy  care,   O   Kind  as   Jufl:  ! 
Heart  all   penitential  duft, 
I   my  end   commit  and   truft  ! 


40 


DIES    IRiE. 


Floods  of  tears  that  day  fhall  pour ; 
Man  fhall  wake  to  fleep   no  more  ; 
Guilty,  horribly  afraid  : 
Spare  him,  Lord,  whom  Thou  haft  made  ! 


X. 


O  !    it  comes,  with   ftealthy   feet, 
Day,   the    ages    fhall   complete, 
When  the  world  fhall   melt  with 
heat! 


O,   what  trembling  fhall  there  be, 
When  all  eyes   the  Judge  fhall  see, 
Come  to   fift  iniquity  ! 

Trump  fhall  syllable  command, 
And  the  dead  of  sea  and  land 
All  before  the  Throne  fhall  ftand. 

Death   fhall  fhudder,   Nature  too, 
When  the  creature  lives  anew, 
Called   to  render  answer  true. 

Volume,  that  omitteth   nought 
Man   e'er  said  or  did  or  thought, 
Shall   for  sentence  then   be  brought. 
6 


42  DIES    IRJE. 

When   mall  fit  the  Judge  severe, 
All  that's  dark  fhall  be  made  clear, 
Nothing  unavenged  appear. 

What,  alas !  mall  I  then  say, 

To  what  IntercefTor  pray, 

When  the  juft  fhrink  with  dismay? 

Awful  King,  fince  all  is  free, 
Without  merit,  without  fee, 
Fount  of  Mercy,  save  Thou  me  ! 

Mind,   O  Jesus,  Friend   fincere, 
How  I  caused  Thy  advent  here, 
Nor  me  lose  who  coft  so  dear  ! 

Straying,  I  by  Thee  was  sought, 
On  the  cross  with  blood  was  bought 
Let  it  not  be  all  for  nought  ! 

Righteous  Judge  !  Avenging  Lord  ! 
Full  remiflion   me  afford, 
Ere  that  final  day's  award  ! 


DIES     IRJE.  43 

Groan  I,  like  a  culprit  base, 
Conscious  guilt  inflames  my  face  : 
Spare  the  suppliant,  God  of  Grace  ! 

Thou,  who  erft  didft  Mary  clear, 
And  the  dying  Thief   didft  hear, 
Hope  haft  given  me  to  cheer. 

Though   my  prayers  create  no  claim, 
Be  propitious,  Lord,  the  same, 
Left  I  burn  in  endless  flame! 

Place  among  Thy  fheep  provide, 
From  the  goats  me  sunder  wide, 
Standing  safe  at  Thy  rigrft  fide  ! 

While  "  Depart !  "   to  foes  addreffed 

Banifheth  to  woes  ungueffed, 

Call  me  near  Thee  with  the  bleffed ! 

Contrite  pangs   my  bosom  tear, 
Heart  as  afhes  :   hear  my  prayer, 
Let  my  end  be  not  despair ! 


4-4 


DIES    1RJE. 


On  that  day  of  grief  and  dread, 
When  man,  rifing  from  the  dead, 
Shall  eternal  juftice   face, 
Spare  the  finner,  God  of  Grace  ! 


XI. 

AY  of  wrath,  that  day  of  dole, 
When  a  fire  fhall  wrap  the  whole, 
And  the   earth  be  burnt  to  coal  ! 


O,  what  horror,  smiting  dumb 
When  the  Judge  of  all  fhall  come, 
Sinful  deeds  to  search  and  sum! 

Trump's  reverberating  roar 
Through  the  sepulchres  fhall  pour, 
Citing  all  the  Throne  before. 

Death  and  Nature  ftand  aghaft, 
While  the  dead  in  numbers  vaft 
Rise  to  answer  for  the  paft. 

Volume,  writ  by  God's  own   pen, 

Chronicling  the  deeds  of  men, 

Shall  be  brought,  and   dooms  be   then. 


\t  DIES    IRiE. 

When  the  Judge  fhall   sit,  behold  ! 
What  is  secret   He'll  unfold, 
No  juft  punifhment  withhold. 

Ah  !  what  plea  fhall  I  prepare, 
To  what  Patron  make  my  prayer, 
When  the  juft  well-nigh   despair  ? 

King,  tnajeftic  beyond  thought, 
Whose  free  grace  cannot  be  bought, 
Save  me,  whose  desert  is  nought ! 

O,  remember,  Jefus,  I 

Was  the  cause  and  reason  why 

Thou  didft  come  on  earth  to  die ! 

Me  Thou  sought'ft  with   weary  feet, 
And   my  ransom  didft  complete  : 
Let  such  pity  nought  defeat ! 

Judge,  inflexible  and  ftri£t, 
Pardon,  ere  that  day  convict 
And  th'  unchanging  doom  inflict  ! 


DIES    IRJE.  47 

Like  a  criminal  I   sigh, 
Blufhing,  penitently  cry  : 
Pass,  Lord,   my  offences  by  ! 

Thou,  who  Mary  erft  did'ft  bless, 
Heard'ft  the  Thief  in  his  diftress, 
Hope  haft  given  me  no  less. 

Worthless  are   my  prayers  and   vain, 
But  in  love  do  not  disdain, 
Left  I  reap  eternal  pain  ! 

On  Thy  right  hand  grant  me  place 
'Mid  the  fheep,  a  chosen  race, — 
Far  from  goats  devoid  of  grace ! 

When  the  thunder  of  Thine   ire 
Headlong  hurls  to  quenchless  fire, 
Let  Thy  welcome   me  inspire  ! 

I  entreat  Thee,  bending  low, 
Heart  as  afhes,  full  of  woe, 
Succor  in   my  end  beftow  ! 


48 


DIES    IRiE. 


When  upon  that  day  of  tears 
Man  from  duft  again  appears, 
Fate  depending  on  Thy  nod  : 
Spare  the  finner  then,  O   God  ! 


XII. 

DAY  of  wrath  !   O  day  of  fate! 
Day  foreordained  and  ultimate, 
When    all    things    here    mail    termi 
nate  ! 


What  numbers   horribly  afraid, 

When  comes  the  Judge,  in  fear  arrayed, 

To  try  the  creatures   He  hath   made  ! 

The  blare  of  Trumpet,  pealing  clear, 

Shall  through  the  sepulchres  career, 

And  wake  the  dead,  and  bring  them  near. 

Aftonifhed  Nature  then  fhall  quail, 
What  time  the  yawning  graves  unveil, 
And  man  comes  forth,  amazed  and  pale, 

To  answer  :      The  o'erwritten  scroll 
Shall  charge  and   certify  the  whole, 
Whence  (hall  be  judged  each   human   soul. 


5C  DIES    IRJE. 

The  Judge  enthroned  fhall  bring  to  light 
Whate'er  is  hid,  in  open  fight 
Avenge  and   vindicate  the  right. 

Ah  !   with  what  plea  (hall  I   then  come, 
When,  terror-locked,  each  sense  is  numb, 
And  even   righteous  lips  are  dumb  ? 

O   King  immortal  and  supreme, 

Whose  fear  is  great,  whose  grace  extreme, 

Make  me  to  drink  of  Mercy's  ftream  ! 

Remember,  Jefus,  Thou  didft  make 
Thyself  incarnate  for  my  sake, 
Left  Hell  insatiate  claim  and  take  ! 

Thou  soughteft  me  when  far  aftray, 
Didft  on  the  cross  my  Ransom  pay  : 
Let  not  such   love  be  thrown  away  ! 

Juft  Judge,  of  purity  intense, 
Remit   my  infinite  offence, 
Before  that  day  of  recompense  ! 


DIES     IR^E.  51 

Like  one   convinced   of  heinous  deed, 
I  groan,   I   weep,   I   blufh,   I   plead  : 
Lord,  spare  me  in   that  hour  of  need  ! 

Thou,  who  wert  moved  by  A4ary's  tears, 
Absolved  the  Robber  from  his  fears, 
Haft  given  me  hope  in  former  years. 

My  prayers  are  worthless   well  I   know  ; 
But,  good,  do  Thou  Thy  goodness  fhow, 
And  save  me  from  impending  woe  ! 

Number  and  place   me   'mong  Thy   own, 
Beneath  the  fhelter  of  Thy  Throne, 
Until   Thy  wrath  be  overblown! 

When  that  the  almighty  word   fhall  leap 
From  out  Thy  Throne,   Thy  foes  to  sweep, 
My  soul  in  perfect  safety  keep  ! 

In   proftrate   worihip,   I   implore, 
With   heart  all   penitent  and   sore  : 
Then  care   for  me  when  life  is  o'er  ! 


5* 


DIES    IR^E. 


Ah  !  on  that  day  of  grief  and  dread, 

And  resurrection  of  the  dead, 

Of  trial  and  of  juft  award, 

In  wrath  remember  mercy,   Lord  ! 


:A  ; 


XIII. 


§Jj?)  HAT  day,  that  awful  day,  the  laft, 


Result  and  sum  of  all  the   Paft, 
Great  neceflary  day  of  doom, 
When  wrecking    fires  (hall    all  con- 
sume ! 


What  dreadful  fhrieks  the  air  fhall  rend, 
When  all  (hall  see  the  Judge  descend, 
And  hear  th'   Archangel's  echoing  fhout 
From  heavenly  spaces  ringing  out  ! 

The  Trump  of  God  with  quickening  breath 
Shall  pierce  the  filent  realms  of  Death, 
And  sound  the  summons  in  each  ear  : 
"  Arise  !   thy  Maker  calls  !   Appear  !  " 

From   eaft  to  weft,   from   south  to  north, 
The  earth  fhall  travail  and  bring  forth  ; 


54  DIES     1RJE. 

As  desert's  sands  and  ocean's  waves 
Shall   be  the  sum  of  empty  graves. 

Th'  unchanging  Record  of  the  Paft 
Shall  then  be  read  from  firft  to  laft  ; 
And  out  of  things  therein  contained, 
Shall  all  be  judged  and  fates  ordained. 

No  lying  tongue,  that  truth  diftorts, 
Shall  witness  in   that  Court  of  Courts  -, 
Each  secret  thing  fhall  be  revealed, 
And  every  righteous  sentence  sealed. 

Ah !  who  can  ftand  when  He  appears  ? 
Confront  the  guilt  of  finful  years  ? 
What  hope  for  me,  a  wretch  depraved, 
When  scarce  the  righteous  man  is  saved  ? 

Dread  Monarch  of  the  Earth  and   Heaven ! 
For  that  salvation's  great  'tis  given  ; 
And   fince  the  boon   is  wholly   free, 
O  Fount  of  Pity,  save  Thou  me  ! 


DIES    IRiE.  55 

Remember,  Jefus,  how   my  case 
Once  moved  Thy  pity  and  Thy  grace, 
And  brought  Thee  down  on  earth   to  ftay  : 
O,  lose   me  not,  then,   on  that  day! 

I   seek  Thee,  who  didft  seek  me  firft, 
Weary  and  hungry  and  athirft  ; 
Didft  pay   my  ransom  on  the  tree  : 
Let  not  such  travail  fruftrate  be  ! 

Juft  Judge  of  vengeance   in   the  end, 
Now  in  the  accepted  time  befriend  ! 
My  fins,  O,  gracioufly  remit, 
Ere  Thou  judicially  fhalt  fit! 

Low  at  Thy   feet  I  groaning  lie  ; 
With   blufhing  cheek,  and  weeping  eye, 
And  ftammering  lips,   I   urge  the  prayer  : 
O   spare  me,   God  of  Mercy,   spare  ! 

When  Mary  Thy   forgiveness   sought, 
Wept,  but  articulated   nought, 


56  DIES    IR7E. 

Thou  didft  forgive  ;   didft   hear  the  brief 
Petition  of  the  dying  Thief. 

On  grace  thus  great  my  hope  is  built 
That  Thou  wilt  cancel,   too,    my  guilt ; 
That,  though  my  prayers   are   worthless  breath, 
Thou  wilt  deliver  me   from  death. 

When  Thy  dividing  rod  of  might 
Appointeth   ftations  oppofite, 
Among  Thy  fheep  grant  me  to  ftand, 
Far  from  the  goats,  at  Thy  right  hand  ! 

And  when  despair  fhall  seize  each  heart 
That  hears  the  dreadful  sound,  "Depart!" 
Be  mine,  the  heavenly  lot  of  some, 
To  hear  that  word  of  welcome,  cc  Come  !  " 

I   come  to  Thee  with  trembling  truft, 
And  lay  my  forehead  in  the  duft  ; 
In  my  laft  hour  do  Thou  befriend, 
And  glorify  Thee  in   my  end  ! 


APPENDIX.— SEQUENCE. 


STATEMENT  of  the  order  observed 
in  the  celebration  of  Mass  will  beft  ex- 
plain the  nature  and  import  of  this  term, 
in  its  application  by  the  Romifh  Church 
to  a  large  body  of  hymns, — Daniel,  in  the  5th  vol- 
ume of  his  learned  and  laborious  work,  u  Thesaurus 
Hymnologicus,"  citing  no  less  than  eight  hundred, 
the  laft  one  given  being  a  new  Sequence,  composed 
in  honor  of  the  Virgin  in  1855,  "  Sequentia  de  Beata 
Maria  Virgine  fine  Labe  Concepta,  Virgo  Virginum 
Praeclara." 

The  dispofition  of  parts  in  the  Mass  is  as  follows, 
viz.  :  1.  The  Introit,  which  is  the  part  sung  or 
chanted  when  the  prieffc  enters  within  the  rails  of  the 
altar.  2.  The  Collect,  or  Prayer.  3.  Reading 
of  the  Epistle,  being,  in  the  Mass  for  the  Dead, 
1  Cor.  xv.  51-57,  or  Rev.  xiv.  13.  4.  The  Grad- 
ual, so  called  from  its  having  been  sung  or  chanted 
8 


58  SEQUENCE. 

formerly  from  the  fteps  (gradus)  of  the  altar,  clofing 
with  the  Alleluia.  5.  The  7'ract,  which  is 
omitted  when  the  Alleluia  is  sung  ;  otherwise  it  is 
sung  in  the  interval  to  prepare  for  the  following. 
The  primary  meaning  of  the  word  (from  traho,  to 
protracl:  or  draw  out)  is  adapted  to  suggeft  either  the 
use  here  indicated,  i.  e.  to  fill  up  time,  or  else  to  ex- 
press the  flow,  mournful  movement  which  character- 
izes the  chant.  6.  The  Sequence,  being,  in  the 
Mass  for  the  Dead,  the  Dies  Irje.  7.  Reading 
of  the  Gospel,  being,  in  the  Mass  for  the  Dead, 
John  v.  25-29.  8.  The  Offertory,  which  is  a 
fhort  sentence  that  varies.  9.  The  Secret,  a  brief 
prayer  recited  by  the  prieft  in  a  very  low  tone  of 
voice.  10.  Communion,  or  the  application  of  the 
Mass.      11.   Post-Communion. 

The  Sequence,  it  will  be  seen,  occupies  a  pofition 
exactly  midway,  being  juft  after  the  Gradual  and 
Tract,  and  immediately  before  the  Gospel.  The 
Reading  of  the  Gospel  happening  to  be  introduced  by 
the  words,  "  Sequentia  Sancti  Evangelii  secundum 
,"  (The  Continuation  of  the  Holy  Gospel  ac- 
cording to ,)  some  have  supposed  that  the  term 

Sequentia  or  Sequence  was  derived  from  this  source. 
Michael    Praetorius  was   of   this   opinion.       But   the 


SEQUENCE.  59 

moft  approved  authorities  give  the  following  explana- 
tion of  its  origin. 

From  an  early  period,  it  was  the  cuftorn  of  the 
Latin  Church  to  fing  the  Gradual  with  the  Alleluia 
between  the  Epiftle  and  the  Gospel  ;  the  Gradual 
being  completed,  the  Alleluia  followed  ;  and  in  order 
to  give  to  the  officiating  prieft  or  deacon  sufficient 
time  to  prepare  and  ascend  the  ambon  or  pulpit,  the 
choir  repeated  and  continued  the  laft  syllable  A 
through  a  series  of  notes.  This  neuma,  as  it  was 
called,  or  mufical  prolongation  of  a  letter,  was  named 
Sequentia,  because  it  was  sequent  to  and  governed 
by  the  melody  and  rhythm  of  the  Alleluia.  At  a 
later  period,  this  paffage  of  notes  sung  without  text, 
conftituting  the  original  form  of  the  Sequence,  came 
to  have  words  set  thereto,  thereby  preparing  the 
way  for  other  changes  ;  and  forasmuch  as  the  firft 
efTays  of  this  kind  were  unmetrical  in  their  ftructure, 
the  term  Prosa  or  Prose  was  applied  by  way  of  dis- 
tinction to  this  species  of  compofition  ;  of  which 
Notker,  surnamed  the  Stammerer,  (Balbulus,)  who 
died  in  912,  canonized  in  15 14,  is  confidered  to  have 
been  the  originator.  Gradually,  rhyme,  so  much 
and  so  fondly  cultivated  in  the  Middle  Ages,  found 
its  way  into  these  also  ;  and  from  the  twelfth  century 


60  SEQUENCE. 

onward,  Sequences  became  proper  metrical  songs, 
differing  from  other  hymns  only  in  this,  that  the 
ftrophes,  inftead  of  four,  were  made  to  consist  of 
three  or  fix  lines,  according  as  they  were  double 
or  fingle.  To  this  rule,  however,  there  were  some 
exceptions.  The  name  of  Prose,  although  not 
ftrictly  proper  in  its  application  to  metrical  composi- 
tions, continued  to  be  used,  nevertheless,  as  a  general 
title  for  all  Sequences  ;  and  so  we  find  the  Dies  Irae 
bearing  the  appellation  in  the  Mass-books  of  "  Prosa 
Ecclefiaftica  de  Mortuis." 

Defigned  in  the  firft  inftance,  as  alleged  by  Notker, 
merely  to  affift  the  memory  in  retaining  the  long- 
drawn,  caudal  melodies  of  the  Alleluia,  the  defirable- 
ness  of  having  other  songs  for  the  Mass  than  the 
Gloria  in  Excelfis,  Kyrie,  Credo,  &c,  songs  eafier 
in  ftru£ture,  which  could  be  joined  in,  not  only  by 
the  choir,  but  also  by  the  congregation, — perhaps, 
too,  the  wifh  to  introduce  greater  variety  into  the 
service,  and  bring  the  finging  into  closer  relation 
with  the  objects  of  particular  Church  feftivals,  which 
could  be  done  more  readily  by  these  Sequences, — 
caused  them  to  be  multiplied  greatly. 

But  the  Roman  ritual  finally  limited  them  to  four, 
viz.  :    Victimce  paschali  laudis^  S.  for  Eafier  Sunday  ; 


SEQUENCE.  6l 

Veni  Sancte  Spiritus,  S.  for  Whitsunday  and  St 
Peter's  Day  ;  Lauda  Sion  Salvatorem,  S.  for  Solem- 
nity of  Corpus  Chrifti ;  and  Dies  Irce,  S.  Mass  for 
the  Dead  and  All-Souls'  Day  ;  nevertheless,  other 
Mass-books  of  diocefes  and  monaftic  orders  con- 
tain more  Sequences.  The  Sequence  firft  named 
has  a  different  metre  from  the  other  three,  being  one 
of  those  rare  cafes  in  which  the  characteriftic  triplet 
form  of  the  ftrophe  is  departed  from.  The  second 
named,  Veni  Sancte  Spiritus,  which  Trench  speaks 
of  as  "  the  lovelieft,  though  not  the  grandeft,  of 
all  the  hymns  in  the  whole  circle  of  Latin  sacred 
poetry,"  contains  ten  ftrophes  of  three  lines  each. 
Its  author  was  Robert  the  Second,  son  of  Hugh 
Capet,  who  ascended  the  throne  of  France  in  the 
year  997,  and  died  in  103 1.  Like  Henry  the  Sixth 
of  England,  of  a  meek  and  gentle  dispofition,  a  lov- 
er of  peace,  he  was  ill  suited  to  contend  with  the 
turbulent  and  reftless  spirits  who  surrounded  him, 
whose  delight  was  in  war.  The  next  Sequence  has 
twelve  double  ftrophes  of  fix  lines  each.  It  is  com- 
monly attributed  to  the  so-called  Angelical  Doctor, 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas.  The  laft,  which  is  the  Dies 
iRiE,  grand  and  unapproachable  in  its  excellence, 
comprises  seventeen  ftrophes  of  three  lines  each,  and 
one  of  four  lines. 


ORIGIN    OF   LATIN    RHYME. 


"HILE  it  is  true  that  the  Latin  hymns 
written  during  the  firft  centuries  of  the 
Chriftian  era  are,  speaking  generally, 
characterized  by  the  absence  of  rhyme, 
and  that  the  prevalence  of  rhyme  belongs  peculiarly 
and  almoft  exclufively  to  the  period  intervening 
between  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  the  Great  and 
that  of  Leo  X.,  it  would  be  a  great  error  to  suppose 
that  rhyme  was  then  firft  introduced,  or  that  it  was 
borrowed,  as  some  have  surmised,  from  the  Romance 
or  Gothic  languages.  If  we  look  for  its  origin,  we 
fhall  find  preludings  and  anticipations  of  it  in  every 
one  of  the  Latin  poets,  not  excepting  the  oldeft. 
Examples  of  both  middle  and  final  rhyme  occur  in 
all.    In  the  Introduction  to  Trench's  "  Sacred  Latin 


ORIGIN    OF    LATIN    RHYME.  63 

Poetry,"  where  this  whole  subject  is  ably  discufTed, 
we  have  a  collation  of  many  of  these.  Witness  the 
following.  An  ancient  author,  quoted  by  Cicero, 
(Tusc.  1.  1.  c.  28,)  poffibly  Ennius,  has  this  • — ■ 

Ccelum  nitescere,  arbores  frondescere, 
Vites  laetificae  pampinis  pubescere, 
Rami  baccarum  ubertate  incurvescere. 

Of  middle  rhyme,  we  have  in  Ennius  :  — 
Non  cauponantes  bellum,  sed  belligerantes  ; 

In  Virgil :  — 

Limus  ut  hie  durescit,  et  haec  ut  cera  liquescit ; 

In  Ovid  :  — 

Quern  mare  carpentem,  substrictaque  crura  gerentem  ; 

Where  also  is  found  this  example  of  leonine  pen- 
tameter :  — 

Quxrebant  rlavos  per  nemus  omne  favos. 

Of  final  rhyme,  we  have,  in  Virgil  :  — 

Nee  non  Tarquinium  ejectum  Porsenna  jubebat 
Accipere,  ingentique  urbem  obsidione  premebat  ; 
Also  :  — 

Omnis  campis  diffugit  arator, 
Otnnis  et  agricola,  et  tuta  latet  arce  viator  ; 


64  ORIGIN    OF    LATIN    RHYME. 

In  Horace  :  — 

Non  satis  est  pulcra  esse  poemata ;  dulcia  sunto, 
Et  quocumque  volent,  animum  auditoris  agunto  ; 

Also .    - 

Multa  recedentes  adimunt.     Ne  forte  seniles 
Mandentur  juveni  partes,  pueroque  viriles. 

Lucan  abounds  in  examples.  Even  the  Latin  prose- 
writers,  it  would  seem,  did  not  disdain  now  and  then 
to  play  at  rhyme,  by  putting  rhyming  words  in  jux- 
tapofition.  Cicero  has  Jiorem  et  color  em  ;  Pliny,  ve- 
ram  et  meram  ;  Plautus,  melle  et  felle  ;  and  so  others. 
Rhyme  being  thus  shown  to  have  been  a  thing 
known  to  the  language  from  the  earlieft  times,  it 
may  be  thought  surprifing,  that  what  at  a  later 
period  was  so  highly  prized,  and  so  fondly  and  so 
laboriously  cultivated,  should  have  been,  during  so 
many  centuries,  to  such  an  extent,  neglected  ;  having 
been  apparently  fhunned  rather  than  sought  for,  par- 
ticularly by  those  great  mafters  of  poetry  who  illus- 
trated the  Auguftan  age.  The  fa£l  is,  that  the 
ancient  claffic  metres,  though  found  occafionally,  as 
we  have  seen,  toying  with   rhyme,   never  seriously 


ORIGIN     OF    LATIN    RHYME. 


65 


affected  it ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  fhackles  imposed 
by  these  had  been  wholly  fhaken  off,  and  a  fimpler 
and  more  natural  verification,  based  upon  accent 
inffead  of  quantity,  had  succeeded  in  eftablifhing  its 
juft  claims  over  the  Greek  intruder,  that  the  regime 
of  rhyme  fairly  commenced. 


(Sregorran  (pant. 


From  the  "  G-raduale  Roraanura." 


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Quod  sum  mi  -  ser 
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Qui   Ma  -  ri  -  am 


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il  -  la      Sol  -  vet    sae-clum 

tu  -  rus,  Quan-do    Ju  -  dex 

tunc  die  -  tu  -  rus,  Quern  pa  -  tro-num 

ma  •  jes  -   ta  -  tis,     Qui    sal  -  van-dos 

ab  -  sol  -  vis  -  ti,       Et     la  -  tro-nem 

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Tes  -  te    Da  -  vid  cum  Si  -  byl-la. 
Cuncta  stric-te    dis-  cus-  su-rus. 

Cum  vix  Justus  sit  se  -  cu  -rus  ? 
Sal- va  me,  fons  pi  -  e  -  ta  -  tis  ! 
Mi  -  hi    quo-que  spem  de-dis-ti. 

Ne  per-  en  -  ni    cre-mer  ig-ne. 


3.  Tu  -  ba   mi-rum 

4.  Mors  stu-pe-bit 
9.  Re  -  cor-  da  -  re 

10.  Quaerens  me  se- 

15.  In  -  ter    o  -  ves 

16.  Con-fu  -  ta  -  tis 


spargens  so  -  num  Per  se  -  pul-chra  re  -  gi  -  o  -  num.,  Co-  get  om-nes 
et  na  -  tu  -  ra.  Cum  re  -  sur-get  ere  -  a  -  tu  -  ra,  Ju  -  di  -  can  -  ti 
Je  -  su  pi  -  e,  Quod  sum  cau-sa  tu  -  as  vi  -  a?,  Xe  me  per-das 
dis  -  ti  las  -  sus  Re  -  de  -  mis-  ti  cru-cem  pas-sus  :  Tan-tus  la  -  bov 
lo-cum  prae-sta,  Et  ab  hae-dis  me  se-questra,  Sta-tu-ensin 
ma  -  le  -  die  -  tis,   Flammis  a  -  cri  -  bus  ad  -  die-  tis,    Vo  -  ca  me  cum 


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an  -  te  thvonum.  5.  Li  -  ber  scriptus    pro-fe  -  re  -  tuv,  In  quo  totum 

re-spon-su  -  ra.  6.  Ju  -  dex  er  -  go  cum  se- de  -  bit,  Quidquid  latet 

il  -  la     di  -  e  !  11.  Jus  -  te  Ju  -  dex  ul  -  ti  -  o  -  nis,  Donum  fac  re  - 

not  sit  cassus  !  12.  In     ge  -  mis -co  tanquam  re  -  us,  Cul-pa  ru-bet 

par-te    dex-tra!  17.  0  -  ro  sup-plex  et    ac  -cli  -  nis,  Cor  contritum 
be  -  ne  -  dic-tis  ! 


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con  -  ti    -    ne-tur,  Un-de  mundus  ju-di-    ce-tur. 

ap  -  pa  -    re  -  bit,  Nil  in  -  ul  -  turn  re  -  ma-  -  ne-  bit. 

mis -si    -    o-nisAn-te    di  -  em    ra-ti    -    o  -  nis.  18.  La-chry-mo-sa 

vul-tus      me-us  :  Suppli-can-ti      par-ce,       De  -  us  ! 

qua-  si       ci  -  nis  :  Ge-  re   cu-ram  me  -  i        fi  -  nis  ! 


di  -  es      il  -    la    Qua   re  -  sur-get     ex    fa  -  vil  -  la.    Ju  -  di  -  can-dus 


re   -    us  :    Hu  -   ic       er  -    go      par  -  cc,      De  -  us  ! 


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